Broken Markets

A User's Guide to the Post-Finance Economy

Authors:
Mellyn, Kevin

Broken Markets explains how global finance drove 40 years of prosperity before missteps harmed the system, how governments are helping perpetuate problems in capital markets, how financial-services firms lost their way and how they can restore the values that once made them great, and what all this means for society and your wallet.

"I would sleep better if I knew that Bernanke, Geithner, Bachus, Sen. Tim Johnson, Obama and Romney all kept dog-eared copies of Kevin Mellyn's Broken Markets on their nightstands. . . . Mellyn's work is a fascinating, important, and eminently good read and should inform the debate on overhauling the U.S. and global financial regulatory systems and sustainable macro fiscal and monetary policy."

--Eric Grover, in his review of

Broken Markets in The American Banker

Broken Markets allows the intelligent non-specialist to understand and navigate the ongoing worldwide aftermath of the 2008 financial market meltdown. The key theme of the book is how the leading financial institutions and the political leadership of the U.S. and European Union have failed us and set the stage for continued market turmoil. It explains what this means for investors, borrowers, society in general, and the financial-services industry. Former banker Kevin Mellyn focuses on providing readers with clear and simple explanations of the forces at work and the potential consequences for their future prosperity.

As this book makes clear, what’s coming is a world in which high structural unemployment and flat or declining real income is likely—not to mention a diminished retirement financial safety net. The book therefore provides actionable information for protecting wealth and making prudent investment decisions in an economy that is nothing like the one that has sustained us for decades.

As a forward-looking narrative about rapidly changing events and volatile markets and politics, Broken Markets will provide no single prediction about the future but rather describe alternative scenarios and provide the reader with signposts to watch out for in deciding which reality is actually unfolding. Unlike most books written by journalists on global finance, the scenarios and signposts described will be largely based on the lessons of financial and political history rather than breaking news. This book:

Tells you in plain language how today’s financial system threatens your livelihood and wealth

Tells you why and how governments worldwide, with some notable exceptions, are taking actions likely to make things worse instead of better

Explains how the leading financial institutions lost their way during the bubble years and how they can find the path back to prosperity and value to society

Tells you what life will be like in a “post-finance” economy and how you can protect your wealth

Kevin Mellyn is a management consultant, author, and former international banker residing in Bronxville, New York. He has more than 30 years of experience in almost every aspect of global finance and banking. Mellyn is the author of Financial Market Meltdown (Praeger, 2009) required reading for new recruits in a leading global financial-services firm a short history and explanation of financial markets, manias, and panics to help the general reader understand and cope with the calamity of 2008. He has been widely published and quoted in financial publications in the U.S., Europe and Asia. Mellyn holds AB and AM degrees in history from Harvard University.